14 DAY TRIAL // Throughout this week, the NASA Kennedy Space Center has been host to the cast, crew and props of the new installment in the Transformer franchise, called The Dark of Moon.
Reporters and other media representatives that visited the KSC this Thursday got a chance to see the leader of the Autobots, Optimus Prime, in truck mode, as well as other scenes from the upcoming flick.
The journalists were visiting the Florida spaceport to assist the delivery process of the payload that will go on the STS-133 mission to the International Space Station (ISS).
The flight, which will be carried out with space shuttle Discovery, is due to launch beyond November 1, and it will deliver the third ExPRESS Logistics Carrier to the station.
As the visit was taken place, the visitors were treated to the site of several Transformers crew members, soldiers in black combat gear, as well to a host of Hollywood sounds on the set.
Filming for the future blockbuster began on Monday, and are scheduled to conclude by this Friday. An interesting thing to note is that numerous extras in the new movie will be played by actual KSC employees.
The producers of the flick decided that it would be a lot more convincing, and also cheaper, to employ the actual KSC workers to man their everyday positions, looking professional as they did so.
Another alternative would have called for them to hire a few extras, and then train them to look as if they knew what they were doing, and not just randomly pressing buttons.
The main cast of the film, comprised of Shia LaBeouf (Sam Witwicky), Rosie Huntington-Whiteley (Carly), and John Turturro (Agent Simmons), have been seen wandering on the set, and visiting the Vehicle Assembly Building.
The VAB and the KSC were selected as a site to shoot the new movie because of their incredible historical significance for the American space program.
The spaceport is home of the US shuttle fleet, which has been conducting routine spaceflights for nearly three decades, advancing our knowledge of space, and helping build the ISS.
Speaking of which, an interesting twist in the Transformers 3 plot will see the actual shuttle Discovery revealed as a transformer, Universe Today reports.
Allowing the movie to be filmed at the KSC “gives us the chance to open up what we do, real space exploration to audiences that we may not already have in a blockbuster film,” explains NASA's News Chief Allard Beutel.
“We’re talking about a worldwide audience and it’s a natural fit in the sense that it is sci-fi and real space exploration but also it allows us to get into the theatres and let kids see what we do, inspire them to look into what NASA is all about and reach an audience we may not normally reach,” he adds.